1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to interactive voice response (IVR) technologies, and more particularly relates to an apparatus, computer program product and data processing system for covertly guiding a caller through an IVR system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Business processing outsource (BPO) service provides are commercial organizations which run call centers that manage inbound and outbound telephone sales campaigns for their clients. BPO service providers have been quick to incorporate developing technological advances into their business models, including increasingly sophisticated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technologies, which recognize verbal and keypad input from callers.
Sales teams at inbound BPO call centers are able to rely on IVR technology to collect a great deal of information from, and about, inbound callers before routing those inbound callers to live operators. IVR technologies enable customers, and potential customers, of retail business to navigate databases verbally or through the touchpad of the telephone. Through IVR systems, potential customers are able to interface with a computer that prompts callers to enter information and provides voice based-feedback. Callers to IVR systems interact with a voice browser by listening to audio output that is either pre-recorded or computer-synthesized. Callers submit audio input to the IVR system in the form of natural voice communication or DTMF keypad input.
In modern BPO business models, inbound sales representatives are required to attend to an increasingly number of incoming calls over the telephone, which calls IVR platforms help them manage. IVR technology has drastically increased the efficiency of the BPO industry, and has been used to manage billions of incoming calls across the industry over the years since IVR use became standard in the industry. IVR technology reduces operation costs and at the same time and increases customer satisfaction.
The interfacing features of IVR systems can be configured to direct potential customers through a sequence of simple menus which gather personal information using CTI (Computer Telephony Integration). The capability of the IVR technology to identify and collect personal information from callers makes IVR technology very important to the BPO industry. Call center operators are able to modify their presentation in accordance with personal information gathered by the IVR platform and digitally displayed to the operators.
IVR platforms usually run on Wintel and Cisco equipment, and usually rely on VXML, or VoiceXML, technologies to interact with callers using voice-recognition technology.
VoiceXML is designed for creating audio dialogs that feature synthesized speech and/or digitized audio. These audio dialogs are played to callers in response to IVR recognition of spoken or dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling (keypad input). Modern IVR platforms making use of VXML or VoiceXML can be configured to carry on conversations and sales transactions with callers from the point of contact to the point of sale, by playing audio dialogs to callers.
IVR platforms can be further configured to play digitized audio scripts to callers which are so responsive to the natural verbal input of the callers that the callers do not know they are interfacing with a machine. Some embodiments of IVR platforms prompt an operator of the BPO service provider monitoring a call to select from a list of prerecorded scripts to replay to the caller in response to questions asked by the caller.
BPO call centers employing operators with poor English skills, or exotic accents, have found that their operators can reach greater levels of sales efficiency replaying digitized scripts of skilled native English speakers then attempting to interact directly with callers.
Call Control XML (CCXML) interoperates with VXML to manage a plurality of simultaneously incoming calls. CCXML is the W3C standard markup language for controlling how phone calls are placed, answered, transferred, and conferenced. CCXML works in conjunction with VoiceXML to provide standards for telephony application, including support for multi-party conferencing and message-passing.
CCXML imparts the ability to many IVR platforms to give each active line in a voice application its own dedicated VoiceXML interpreter, and the ability to receive events and messages from systems outside of the CCXML or VoiceXML platform. Interaction with an outside call center platform, calls started asynchronously from the VoiceXML platform, and communication between multiple clustered VoiceXML or CCXML platforms all require event interaction from one platform to another. Although IVR systems often make use of the same standards, including VXML and CCXML, there exists no system or computer program product in the industry for interchanging different IVR systems within a single BPO architecture.